Designs Practice Notice 3/03: Dividing-out design applications

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To be registrable, an application must be for ‘a design’ (Section 1(1)).

The design should be shown applied to, or incorporated in, a product or products (Rule 14, and Section 4 of the application form), but the scope of protection is not limited to the product or products shown.

If the examiner decides that more than one design is shown in the application, they will raise a ‘divide-out’ request under Section 3B(3) asking the applicant to exclude the additional design or designs, leaving only one design as the subject of the application. This is referred to as the ‘parent’ application.

The additional design or designs (the ‘child’ applications) can be re-submitted as separate applications (with a separate fee for each), but they will be linked with the parent and given the same registration and renewal dates.

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